LAHORE - A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between Nadra and Pakistan Railways (PR) in Lahore on Saturday, under which Nadra will issue smart cards to the employees of Pakistan Railways.
Speaking on the occasion, Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique said with the help of smart cards, Pakistan Railways will be able to get accurate strength of railways employees. According to terms agreed by both the parties, in first phase the information pertaining to employee including date of appointment, retirement, personal information, designation, pay scale and family chart would be verified and registered by Nadra before issuance of digitised employee card.
In next phase, the same card would be issued to the family members of the employees. The digital employee card would hold all the necessary information of an employee which will be verified duly by Nadra and Pakistan Railways, MIS tracking would provide details of service related data. “This breakthrough step would bring a visible change in human resource management of this huge department with approximately 76,000 employees and 96,000 sanctioned strength. “The record of all Railways personal would be available on a single click.” said the minister.
Pakistan Railways currently have thousands of employees on its pay roll, to redress the structural flaws and past maladministration, Pakistan Railways has already started work on restructuring which is in its last phase and would be completed in February next year. He said that after formation of a database, all information about the department and its employees would only a click away.
"We have been trying to convert a 150 years old railways system into a modern one for the last four years and we have achieved several goals so far," he added. He told the media that a Human Resource (HR) Department was also being established, which was a dire need of the hour. The minister also urged Nadra and PR to finalise an agreement on the basis of the MoU as soon as possible. Earlier, PR Director IT Fahad Rehman and Nadra Director General Colonel Noman signed the MoU papers.